CLEVELAND — A group of Cleveland residents who call themselves “Citizens for a Safer Cleveland” are at the forefront of the push for police reform in the city, regularly attending public meetings, consent decree hearings and organizing initiatives for their cause.

What You Need To Know

  • A group of Cleveland residents who call themselves “Citizens for a Safer Cleveland” are at the forefront of the push for police reform in the city, regularly attending public meetings, consent decree hearings and organizing initiatives for their cause

  • The city of Cleveland has been under a federal consent decree since 2015, which means they’re under the watch of the U.S. Department of Justice until they’re able to reach over 400 benchmarks for constitutional policing, but almost ten years later, the consent decree is still active

  • In 2021, Citizens for a Safer Cleveland mobilized to pass Issue 24, a city charter amendment that gave the community more oversight in police policy
  • Although the commission has had a rocky start, the group is committed to seeing police reform

The group was founded by Brenda Bickerstaff, whose brother, Craig Bickerstaff, was shot and killed by Cleveland Police in 2002.

“I had no other choice but to get involved and to seek justice for my brother Craig,” Bickerstaff said. “Not only for Craig, but for people to come, so they won’t have to go through what I went through.”

Bickerstaff’s father, Roscoe Bickerstaff, was a Cleveland police officer, and despite the pain of losing her brother, she believes it is possible for the department to reform to better serve the community.

Over the years, she has grown close with other people whose loved ones were killed by Cleveland police officers, including Alicia Kirkman.

Kirkman’s son, Angelo Easy Miller, was 17 years old when he was killed by a Cleveland Police Officer in a shooting that was ruled self defense.

For a while, Kirkman said she couldn’t imagine working with police for reform, but it was Bickerstaff who encouraged her to attend her first community meeting with CPD years ago.

“It was God’s grace and mercy that Brenda did take me to that meeting,” Kirkman said. “Ever since she took me to that meeting and she encouraged me, we started working on changing policies and changing laws.”

In 2014, Samaria Rice’s son and LaTonya Goldsby’s nephew, Tamir Rice, was holding a toy gun when he was shot and killed by a CPD officer. He was only 12 years old, and the story made national headlines.

“I don’t wish this on anybody to be a part of a situation like this,” Rice said. “It’s not a good feeling. It’s a horrible feeling, and it feels like it’s a never ending battle.”

These women are invested in seeing police reform through because they don’t want other families to go through what they’ve experienced.

The city of Cleveland has been under a federal consent decree since 2015, which means they’re under the watch of the U.S. Department of Justice until they’re able to reach over 400 benchmarks for constitutional policing. But almost ten years later, the consent decree is still active — something Rice is disappointed about.

“I think they should want to change to build a better community, to build a better police reform, better policies to protect all human life, not just a part of human life, not just one quarter of human life,” Rice said. “So that’s what I really feel.”

Delanté Thomas, Chief Ethics Officer for the City of Cleveland, said the city is cooperating as much as they can with the consent decree, adding that it’s hard for them to navigate uncharted territory as they work to reform.

“If this doesn’t work, we all lose, right? We all lose,” Thomas said. “So, we are very much invested in ensuring that this works, right? We have no desire to impede progress. We have no desire to hold things up.”

In 2021, Citizens for a Safer Cleveland mobilized to pass Issue 24, a city charter amendment that gave the community more oversight in police policy.   

The legislation gave Cleveland’s Community Police Commission and Civilian Review Board the final say on how to handle police discipline — making them the most powerful citizen police oversight groups in the country.

Goldsby said even when the department reaches compliance, civilian oversight will be necessary, and that’s what residents voted for.

“If the citizens have created a vessel of accountability that they want to see within their department, it should be implemented in that way,” Goldsby said. “And that will help build the trust within our police department.”

But, the commission has had a lot of issues since its creation that have left residents worried about its effectiveness: slow progress, distrust from the public and infighting.

While they recognize it looks bad from the outside, these women said the police department has a long and messy history that has resulted in a lot of pain for many in the community, so the commission is going to need time to work through it all.

“Democracy can be messy, but like it’s like we’re saying, we’re going to stay here until this commission and this charter is followed to the fullest extent of the law,” Bickerstaff said.

The city is now taking applications for nine residents to fill vacancies on the Community Police Commission. 

Six will be selected to serve four-year terms, and the other three will finish out the terms of three commissioners who stepped down.

Thomas said they’re looking for people who are not only passionate about civic engagement, but have experience in community organizing, adding he believes the commission has accomplished a lot in its first two years, but the city is still learning.

They’re hoping this next phase can help create a culture change that will help move their agenda forward.

“We’re hoping to have learned from all the things that we’ve gone through as a city over the last two years, and with the hope of being able to move the work forward,” he said. “We all have the same goal, you know, and that is, and that is having a strong policing culture in our city.”

Applications are open through Sept. 6. After that, the city will review applicants with the support of community stakeholders, including members of Citizens for a Safer Cleveland. Interviews will be made available to the public via livestream before the mayor selects nine nominees to be approved by the city council.

While Bickerstaff and the team are committed to continuing the fight, she said this work takes a toll on her minds and bodies.

“Me staying the course is praying to God every day to give me the strength that I need to go through this process,” Bickerstaff said.

But even in the face of public opposition and exhaustion, these women will not stop fighting for reform.

Because for them, it’s personal.

“Like we be wanting our life back, and our lives changed for the worse when our loved ones were taken away,” Kirkman said. “And not just that, like, we have to stay on the front line, so we never get a chance to rest when we feel like we want to rest.”